Up 2-0, the Pittsburgh Penguins would suffer some bad luck and see their lead cut and half before the first intermission.
Deep in the offensive zone, James Neal grabbed a puck and skated to the net. In front, a Lightning defenseman cross-checked Pens forward Alex Kovalev onto the Tampa goalie Dwayne Roloson. While being hooked, Neal could only fire hit the side of the post of what would have been an open net.
The referees whistled the penalty, but instead of an infraction on a Tampa player, they decided to take Kovalev to the box for interfering with the goaltender. Bizarre call and a bad break for Pittsburgh.
On the ensuing power play, Stamkos, Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier buzzed in the offensive zone, with St. Louis eventually picking up a loose puck and beating Fleury to make the score 2-1.
The Pens, who haven’t scored on a powerplay, will have an extended chance to open the second period. When a whistle stopped play with 21 seconds left in the period, Lecavalier swooped in, right in front of a ref, and hit Brooks Orpik, for some reason, which earned him a foolish but obvious minor penalty.